A Cold Wind from Moscow

Tom Wilde #8

by Rory Clements, Adam Sims (narrator), Zaffre (publisher)

Winter, 1947. Britain's secret services have been penetrated. The country is more vulnerable than ever - and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin knows it. He decides it is time to send his master of 'Special Tasks' to create extra chaos.

But Stalin has a more important motive than mere disruption. He has a man on the inside who must be protected at all costs - a communist super-spy who has the secrets of the atomic bomb at his fingertips.

Freya Bentall, a senior MI5 officer, no longer knows who to trust and is left with one to bring in an outsider whose loyalty is beyond question - Cambridge professor Tom Wilde. His to find the traitor in MI5.

Bentall has three main suspects and Wilde must get close to them all. That means delving deep into the criminal underworld, attaching himself to the cultural elite of the arts and finding a way into the extreme reaches of British politics.

As winter bites and violence erupts, Wilde faces an uphill battle to protect those he loves from merciless killers. And he knows that one slip will spell disaster for the country - and his family.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Espionage, Thriller, Audiobook, Russia, Spy Thriller

Audible Audio

Published January 30, 2025

About the author

Rory Clements has had a long and successful newspaper career, including being features editor and associate editor of Today, editor of the Daily Mail's Good Health Pages, and editor of the health section at the Evening Standard. He now writes full-time in an idyllic corner of Norfolk, England.

Reviews

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5 stars*

Winter 1947 in the UK was a bitterly cold, snowy and icy one, with thousands of people being cut off for days by snowdrifts up to seven metres deep. But unknown to the general public, that wasn’t the only blast of cold air, because a new breed of spy was born, bringing a very cold wind from Moscow.

Two years after the end of the war, Britain was broken and very vulnerable, economic recovery was slow, housing was in short supply, and bread was rationed along with many necessities. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was aware of the situation and decided to send his master of ‘Special Tasks’, in order to create even more chaos. Stalin already had a man on the inside, a communist super-spy who had the secrets of the atomic bomb at his fingertips, and he must be protected whatever the cost!

Freya Bentall, a senior MI5 officer, no longer knows who to trust and is left with one option: to bring in an outsider whose loyalty is beyond question - Cambridge professor Tom Wilde. His task: to find the traitor in MI5.

There are three main suspects, and Wilde finds himself caught up in the criminal underworld whilst trying to get close to each of the suspects.

However, one wrong foot and Wilde risks disaster, not only for his family but also his country.

Mr Clements has a real knack for great storytelling, and creating exciting and riveting fictional plots from historical situations. His research is impressive to say the least. His writing is vividly rich in colour and atmosphere. A wonderful spy thriller from a top-notch author.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Bonnier Books UK/ Zaffre for my ARC in exchange for an honest unbiased review *

[Clemens Schoonderwoert · Rating 4 out of 5]

**Read 4.25 STARS!**

This very well accomplished Cold War thriller is the 8th volume of the great "Tom Wilde" series.

At the end of the book you'll fins a Postscript mainly about Klaus Fuchs, great scientist and voluntary spy, and the man's historical deeds and beliefs.

Storytelling is superb, all characters are very believable and lifelike, and the atmosphere of Post-War Britain and the harsh Winter of early 1947 also come both splendidly off the pages as well.

The book is set in Winter in early 1947, and the British Secret Services are penetrated by the Soviets, in an attempt to gain information about the British and their Atomic Bomb programme.

While Joseph Stalin Russian bear's claws are tearing deeper into British flesh and Secret society, Senior Officer Freya Bentall of MI5, with the help of Professor of History at Cambridge University, Tom Wilde, is trying to find the mole(s) within her own organisation.

What is to follow is an intriguing and gripping Cold War spy thriller, with the Russians acting deviously as usual, while the British at first are acting too late and naïve against this Soviet threat due to poor management during and after WWII, but eventually Freya Bentall and Tom Wilde will be able to reveal the mole(s) and other culprits who have compromised MI5, and thus so save MI5's internal struggles and at the same time its fight against the Soviet threat for the time being.

Highly recommended, for this is another excellent addition to this brilliant series, and that's why I like to call this episode: "Soviet Claw Strikes Nuclear"!

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Cold Wind From Moscow is the eighth book in the author’s Tom Wilde spy thriller series. It’s a series I absolutely love and nothing excites me more than learning another book is on the way. You probably could read it as a standalone but if you want to give yourself a real treat, read the series from the beginning starting with Corpus.

Tom is continuing his vain attempt to free himself from the grip of MI5 and return to his role as a Professor of History at Cambridge University. He has a young son whom he wants to spend more time with, especially as his wife Lydia is away training to be a doctor. It’s a long-held ambition of hers and Tom is not the sort of man to stand in her way. To be fair, she’s not the sort of woman to let a man stand in her way either. Their meetings are limited to brief encounters in London hotels where Tom, in the words of Lydia, is called upon to perform his ‘nuptial duties’.

However Freya Bentall, a senior officer with MI5, is a difficult woman to say no to, particularly when the security of the country is at risk. Tom may be American by birth but he’s a Briton by choice, and a patriot. With echoes of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre, Tom takes on the task of identifying the traitor Freya believes has infilitrated MI5. In engaging with her three suspects he finds himself visiting some varied places – from seedy gambling dens, to dockside cafes and elegant art galleries – and characters from all echelons of society, including some pretty violent individuals with their own signature way of despatching people who get in their way.

We also know from the dramatic opening chapter that there are even nastier people out there, motivated by political ideology and utterly ruthless because they know the personal consequences of failure. ‘Bloodshed was in their nature. Compassion was an alien concept.’ They also know that someone with secrets is the perfect target for coercion.

The story is peppered with exciting action scenes, including a violent assault on a remote house made even more dramatic by the fact the harsh winter has brought England to a virtual standstill. We also find out some intriguing information about the enigmatic and famously taciturn Freya Bentall.

Rory Clements has perfected the art of combining real events, in this case the post-war atomic weapons race, with exciting fictional scenarios. The story moves at the speed of a runaway train and has surprises around every corner. Don’t be shocked if a character you trust turns out to be a wrong’un, or the other way around.

As a gift for faithful followers of the series, there are references to events and characters in the second Tom Wilde book, Nucleus. I also loved the walk-on parts for three real-life individuals in the closing pages of the book.

If you are a fan of spy thrillers, A Cold Wind From Moscow will most definitely not disappoint. I loved it.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of Professor Tom Wilde, Oxford Professor and erstwhile spy. The war is now well and truly over and there is a new enemy for Tom to root out. Living a quiet life in Oxford with his young son whilst his wife, Lydia is training to be a doctor in London, Tom is shocked to find a dead visitor in his office- unfortunately the visitor, Everett,Glasspool, an old espionage colleague has been murdered.
Summoned to London to meet with Freya Bentall, MI5 chief, Tom is asked to investigate some men she suspects of being traitors and find out who killed Everett Glasspool who was one of her trusted agents.
As Tom becomes more involved he is led to a group of nuclear scientists one of whom is suspected of selling secrets to the enemy. Pursued by Russian assassins sent to silence those who suspect their sleeper agents, Tom is quickly drawn into a world where London gangsters are working hand in hand with traitorous spies to infiltrate the nuclear programme.
Not knowing whom to trust , Tom fears for his own life and that of his family.
This is a fast paced and well plotted espionage thriller which I thoroughly enjoyed. Tom is a great hero, never afraid to have a go but in keeping with his other profession, cerebral as well- a perfect combination.
I’ve enjoyed every book Rory Clements has written about him and am always excited when a new one comes out. I was so excited to get my hands on this new one and thoroughly recommend both ‘A Cold Wind From Moscow” as well as all the other books in this excellent series. Five stars from me! Don’t miss this when it is published in January.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy.

[Kate Vane · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the depths of winter my literary brain can struggle and I turn to immersive page-turners . This time last year I binged on the Tom Wilde books so I was pleased to be able to enjoy A Cold Wind from Moscow over the Christmas period.

If you’re not familiar with the series, they cover the period before, during and after the Second World War. Tom Wilde is a half-American Cambridge academic who has connections to both the British and American intelligence services. Each book draws on real historical events (part of the fun is going back later to research what was real and what made up) and incorporates a story involving Wilde, often taking him across Europe to follow up leads.

A Cold Wind from Moscow stays closer to home, with much of the action taking place in London. It is 1947, and the miseries of rationing and post-war austerity are compounded by an exceptionally severe winter. Wilde’s wife Lydia is away in London, studying to become a doctor. He is balancing academic life and caring for their son. The Soviet threat to Britain comes close to home when he finds a visitor dead in his Cambridge rooms – believed to have been killed by a Soviet assassin.

Wilde is brought into the investigation by Freya Bentall, a senior figure in British intelligence, who believes the Soviets have a mole in her service. His role is to work with the officers she suspects on the pretext that he is representing the Americans, to try and discover who the mole is.

The story is rich in atmospheric detail, as he follows the three spies into their respective worlds. He meets artists and left-wing intellectuals in the home of a wealthy artist and society lady. He mingles with working-class agitators. He becomes embroiled in the London underworld, where criminal gangs, political corruption and espionage merge.

Wilde believes there is a connection with the work of Britain’s nuclear scientists and this leads him to question some of the nuclear scientists at Harwell – and catch up with old friends who first appeared in Nucleus, the second book in the series.

The cold, the hunger, the sheer bleakness of a world that promised much as the war ended are vividly evoked. (The novel opens with Wilde wondering whether he can afford to lavish an absurd amount of money on the lone, wrinkled peach in a greengrocer’s window.) The three suspects are colourful and distinctive, and may have more than a passing resemblance to the real-life moles who were later found to have been operating at this period.

I have a couple of qualms. One is that despite loving the series, I’m not sure I like Tom Wilde the man very much. He’s quite po-faced and is always sure that he’s right, even though he doesn’t seem that great at spying and leaves a significant body count, including innocents, in his wake.

I feel that the plot of A Cold Wind from Moscow relies on Wilde and the British making quite basic errors. My knowledge of tradecraft is limited to reading other spy novels but I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to use your family home as a safe house. Of course, people do things in novels that they don’t do in life for dramatic effect. Still, I couldn’t help nodding along when Freya says they have to catch the mole or the Americans will think they’re a bunch of amateurs.

Overall though, it’s great to be back in Wilde’s world. A Cold Wind from Moscow is pacy and atmospheric and keeps you wondering who you can trust.
*
I received a copy of A Cold Wind from Moscow from the publisher via NetGalley.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the back of having enjoyed Munich Wolf recently, I couldn’t ignore this latest book from Rory Clements. I was powerless to resist the opportunity to read this latest offering within the Tom Wilde series.

Being book eight in this collection if spy-craft novels, I was a little hesitant to jump into them out of sequence. I worried unnecessarily as it reads perfectly as a standalone and as it is set in postwar England; it is like the turning of a page, like a fresh start in uncertain and changing times.
Set just after World War II with the Soviet Union flexing her muscles in the spy game. At the time of top secret research supporting the quest for atomic power and the American knowledge gained building the bomb not shared with allies and concealed from perceived enemies.
A Cold Wind From Moscow reflects the new political landscape. A bankrupt Britain trying to hold its own; not an equal of the USA, losing its own Empire and now threatened by the rise of Communism and a powerful Soviet Union.
The winter that occurs here is some of the worst conditions on record. Today we would evaluate the extreme weather, the seven weeks of sub zero temperatures. as due to the “Beast from the East.” A Cold Wind From Moscow in other words perhaps; a clever title and most apt reflecting the plot of book where the threat comes From Moscow!
Indeed it might be seen as the start of the ‘Cold War’. but as usual it seems Britain is ill prepared.

Like all good thrillers there is this pervading threat.

I enjoyed this sense of violence and harm touching the main protagonist; reaching the very characters we are investing in, as we read the unfolding story. Is anyone safe?

The ever present danger of friends or foe amid shifting alliances and uncertain loyalties.

Who can you trust? How can the British prevail against those who fight dirty? The Secret Service is class bound, infested with moles and seeks to uphold the rule of law.

Fortunately Tom Wilde is “American” and he might just offer an edge and tip the scales back.

I love a good spy thriller. Full of intrigue, deadly confrontation and political shenanigans.
This is a very good thriller.

[Szustalke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, I thoroughly enjoyed being immersed in this world of spies, intrigue and action! Fantastically depicted backdrop of impoverished post-war Britain; food rationing, heavy snowfall that prevents people from getting coal from the mines, black market whisky wetting throats and warming bellies of those who venture into the shady parts of London. It seemed that every character encountered was flesh and bones, so believable, their essence immediately captured by the author. I does tempt me to go and fetch other books of the series.

[Steven Godin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping this would be a slow-burn spy thriller, like in the realms of a John le Carré, lets say: but it was not. Too much killing for one thing, and some of the actions on behalf of the British intelligence services, and Tom Wilde Himself, were in places not very intelligent to say the least, and it's all very stereotypical of the upper-class snobbery within M15 with very little in the way of character depth. The freezing cold winter of 1947 and a Britain struggling to get back on its feet, with food rations and sorts was brought to life really well, that's the best about it; the period detail.

[Samantha Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast paced, well researched and certainly a thriller: a perfect novel for my wheelhouse as a first proper read of 2026.
After 7 previous novels, I thought Clements’s might have run out of things to write based on war thrillers. But, of course, the Cold War brought new enemies and new strategies. Fingers crossed he’s got another 7-8 novels in him because the previous 8 have been cracking!

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that I found enjoyable and annoying in almost equal measure. Enjoyable, because it was an interesting spy story, set in the early post WW2 years against the backdrop of the race to develop a civilian and military nuclear capability. It involves Russian spies, MI6, gangsters, prostitutes, Cambridge academics and more. Annoying because it’s written in a sort of faux 1940’s style with a few updated social attitudes. To me it lacked authenticity, credibility and was just so tame.
Disappointing.

[Mark Metcalfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 fun easy read!

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Ara · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 - enjoyable and a pageturner

[Margie Fenton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This spy thriller is set in England in the sub-freezing winter of 1947, 18 months post-WWII. The story mixes fact with fiction and gives a sense of the harsh realities of life at the time. While the book is the latest in a series, you don't need to read the others to enjoy this one. Five stars!

[Adam Carson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Possibly my favourite of the Wilde books. Set largely in the long, cold winter of 1947. The scene of post-war England is very well done. I’ve missed this series in its two year break!

There’s a good balance of character development and spy thriller. It’s well plotted with enough suspense and twists to keep you guessing who are the good guys and who are the bad without being too challengingly espionage heavy, a la Carre.

Clements writes Tom Wilde well as a character, and it’s nice to see some strong women in a spy thriller set in this period. Not quite sure what gone on with Wilde’s wife Lydia though, who is barely in the book and seems to be accepting of the danger her husband is in as well as her son’s near death experience. The only slight oddity in this otherwise very enjoyable book.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tense page turner

[Nicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do love this series featuring American Cambridge History Professor Tom Wilde. I actually thought that The English Fuhrer was the last book, so I was delighted to discover that after a year’s break, Rory Clements had written another adventure for my favourite reluctant spy.
Set in the frozen winter of 1947, the books starts with Tom finding a dead body in his rooms at Cambridge University, and gets himself involved, once again, with MI5.
This book was full of some really nasty characters, including London gangsters, MI5 and Soviet spies, and Philip Easton from the previous books. I really didn’t know who to trust, and poor Tom felt the same, especially when Freya Bentall, his contact at MI5 wasn’t completely honest with him either.
With harsh weather conditions, and tighter rationing even though WW2 was over, it all added to a atmospheric read that kept me hooked.
Highly recommended if you enjoy spy thrillers set in post war Britain.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Bonnier Zaffre for my digital copy.

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

More intrigue, thrills and suspense from the ever reliable Rory Clements who has become an expert in delivering gripping historical spy thrillers. The period moves to the freezing British winter of 1947 as an almost broken country struggles to recover from the war as international alliances shift and espionage steps up. Capable Cambridge history professor is a likeable hero as he reluctantly tackles London high and low life as he becomes increasingly aware of the threat posed. Enjoyable thrills and spills make this difficult to put down.

[Moravian1297 · Rating 4 out of 5]

When doing my fortnightly shopping, I always check out the book section in my local Tesco, for you never know what you might find. Unfortunately it’s quite often the first time I realise that a favourite author of mine, or a series that I'm rather enjoying has a new book out. You'd think that Goodreads and its algorithms would sort that out for me, and let me know, but no, it rarely does, if ever, and I'm left to my own devises like some kind of literary sh*tmuncher and it's somewhat left down to happenstance and pot luck really. But I will say one thing for my reliance on a system of chance at the popular supermarket conglomerate, and that's my excitement and utter joy when I do spot a noteworthy book on their shelves. And although I didn't know it existed, I definitely know that I want it! Do you want it Sir? Do you? Oh! Suits you Sir! Suits you, haha!

Well, it was with just such excitement, that I encountered the new Rory Clements novel in my local supermarket last week, and oh, joy of joys, it was indeed a new Tom Wilde! Superb! Fantastic! Splendid! Bravo!
Although I would have to say, I do prefer the author's 'John Shakespeare' series, this really has been an all round competent suit of stories, with 'The Man in the Bunker' being the pick of the bunch, which really was an outstanding read and the only real low point in Rory Clements' spy series, coming with, 'A Prince and a Spy', which was ultimately a load of cliché ridden (the author certainly doesn't seem to be embarrassed in using clichés, see my review of Munich Wolf!), royal a*se licking mulch.
Nevertheless, this latest instalment, 'A Cold Wind From Moscow ', wasn't bad, with the excitement building apace right through till the end. Where the extremely ironic last paragraph, with Kim Phibly, Anthony Blunt and Guy Burgess making a highly amusing cameo, had me chortling away no end! Excellent writing from Mr Clements, wonderful stuff indeed.

However, a couple of minor criticisms that do seem to let the story down a tad, for me at any rate.
The tale did seem to have a propensity for the improbable, one example being, when Tom Wilde had taken a couple of star witnesses to a safe house in deepest Norfolk, I did find it somewhat improbable, that to find them, the book's resident and highly egregious bad guys, were left to ask the whereabouts of MI5’s stool pigeons at a local train station, where the ticket master gleefully obliged. Aye right! As if a station master would give out that kind of information, no chance whatsoever! It was also stretching the imagination to exceptional degrees, that the head of the MI5 section that Tom was dealing with, Freya Bentall would have sent the witnesses there without back up or security, especially after the Soviet hitman and/or the Cockney gangsters had lobbed a grenade into her London home! But it was what it was, and we just had to get on with it.

The author also usually and very much thankfully, steers clear of pejorative and politically emotional language, but strangely not here. Where he mentions that European Nazism, has been replaced by a 'new tyranny’ (meaning communism). I found this disappointing, and when you add that to the sympathetic ear he gave some Nazis in his last novel, Munich Wolf (again, see my review of Munich Wolf), you could be forgiven for asking questions about the author's politics. In reality however, I don't really think Rory Clements is a fascist in any way shape or form, but he should really watch his language, or people will talk! Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, if you know what I mean?! A Sieg is as good as a Heil to a blind Nazi! And believe you me, they’re ALL blind Sir!

Anyway, paraphrased parodies aside, and to sum up, in doing the British Secret Services a favour, Professor Wilde gets himself into a right old pickle and finds himself, slap bang in the middle of Uncle Joe's attempts to shore up his UK atomic research spying network, with as much intrigue and shenanigans as something as slippery as that sounds. A good old fashioned page turner, especially approaching the books climax, unfortunately with a somewhat predictable twist, but at the end of the day, it’s not bad, not bad at all!

[Oundle Crime · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the latest novel by Rory Clements’s featuring Professor Tom Wilde and it’s another atmospheric and twisty espionage thriller, which I found completely absorbing. It is set in England during the winter of 1947 – one of the coldest winters in UK history. The war is over but life is hard, with food rationing still in force, regular power cuts and shortages of every kind. Tom Wilde is again teaching at Cambridge University and, arriving at his college rooms one morning expecting to meet with an ex-colleague, he discovers the man dead on the floor, killed by an ice-axe in his head. The victim, Elliot Glasspool, still worked for M15 so the security services are soon involved as well as the police.

It turns out that this particular method of murder is the trademark of a certain London gangster, and when Freya Bentall, a senior MI5 officer asks Wilde to help her with an internal matter in London he agrees. Bentall is searching for a Russian mole in the secret services and has identified three of her agents who might be passing Britain’s nuclear secrets to the Russians. Wilde is introduced to each under the pretext of being an American agent (which he was) picking up the pieces of working in the UK now that America plans to reinstate their overseas operations. To Wilde, all three men seem plausible suspects and his assignment proves to be much tougher than expected. The story moves between Cambridge, London, Oxfordshire and Norfolk and, as well as agents and spies, pulls in London gangsters and all sorts of insalubrious characters. It’s well-paced, easy to read and very atmospheric.

My verdict
I think Rory Clements is brilliant at creating atmosphere. I first came across him as a writer when I read his John Shakespeare mystery series set in Elizabethan England which are hard-hitting and feel so real that, in places, they are terrifying. The Tom Wilde novels are a bit gentler, but that might be only because the England of the 1930s to 1950s feels more familiar. In this novel, Clements is so good at painting a picture with words, you’re soon aware that our idea of hardship today is far-removed from the reality most people faced immediately after the war. The winter of 1947 sounds beyond brutal.

Against this backdrop the story shifts and moves to focus on the hunt for a spy and the nuclear programme at Harwell. It was a bit slow to get going but enough happens to keep you turning the pages and it’s not long before the pace picks up and suddenly Wilde is in the middle of an international plot that’s threaded its way through the Establishment, down to London’s gangland.

I thought this was a terrific story and full of interesting characters, but it was the descriptions of post-war England that made this a stand-out novel. I was completely absorbed by it and the mystery element was, as usual, enhanced by Rory Clements inserting real-life characters into the mix which gave things an extra edge. As far as I’m concerned, this is another 5 Star addition to the Tom Wilde series and I’m already looking forward to the next instalment, which I imagine will reach into the Cold War.
Review by: Cornish Eskimo, Oundle Crime

[Daphne Sharpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I greatly enjoyed the Tudor novels from this author, and was intrigued by this story of Cold War espionage. This is my first Tom Wilde book, so my reading list has now grown, but I am looking forward to them… all seven of them!
Set in 1947-48, Britain was freezing cold, both in weather terms and the general mood of the population. Despite having won the war, everything is in short supply, food is still rationed, power cuts make life a misery, houses are also desperately needed, so many have been lost due the bombing raids, it all seems a harsh price to pay for freedom.
Tom Wilde is a Professor at Cambridge teaching Tudor history, he has supposedly retired from his spying days. When he finds a dead body in his college rooms with an ice axe in its skull, Tom reports to his old boss Freya Bentall, senior officer of Intelligence, who asks Tom to help her search for a “ mole” in the secret service, she can trust him.
Tom is thrust into the murky world of spies, London gangsters, drugs, nightclubs, the hidden culture of homosexuality, and the secretive nuclear energy society. He must find out who is passing vital information to the Soviets and safeguard his adopted country from harm.
A wonderful Cold War espionage novel, where historical facts are used to create a wholly believable work of fiction.
It is exciting, well paced and there are some very likeable characters, Tom and Freya are the stand out ones for me.
The research is impeccable, I remember my parents speaking about that cold winter, working in a farming community, trying to keep animals safe and digging sheep out of fresh snow drifts on a daily basis.
I’m looking forward to reading the previous books, there are mentions of Nucleus, but I still enjoyed this book by guessing at the gaps in my knowledge of this series. The postscript at the conclusion to this book was interesting, it sets out the truth of those involved and what happened to them.
If this is filmed, Lia Williams would make a good Freya Bentall, her face kept coming to my mind whilst reading this.
Five star read. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers Zafron/ Bonnier books for my eARC, freely given in return for my honest review.
I will leave a copy to Goodreads and Amazon UK upon publication.

[Martin Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new direction for this excellent series.

"A Cold Wind From Moscow" opens in February, 1947, and Britain is still recovering from the war. Food is in short supply, there are regular power cuts, and the coldest winter in years is upon them. Professor Tom Wilde continues to work at his Cambridge university, his spying days well behind him. But when a visitor is found dead, violently murdered in his rooms, he is quickly thrust back into the world of espionage.

But it's not the world of spying he knew previously - this is the start of a new war - a Cold War, where the rules are different. And when head of SIS, Freya Bentall asks him for one last favour - to track down a mole within MI5, he reluctantly takes up the mantle of spy once more. Before long he realises that former allies, the Russians, have turned their sights on Britain.

Swiftly the story turns to the fast-paced, desperate race against time that fans of this series love. Tom, the reluctant spy, seeks out the mole, but quickly sees the bigger picture, one of the emerging race for better atomic weapons, and those who are key to its development. Along the way he meets a colourful cast of characters, from the deeply suspicious fellow spies, to a flamboyant aristocratic artist, a Russian scientist willing to share secrets and a charismatic scientist by the name of Klaus Fuchs. And, of course, post-war Britain is beautifully rendered, with little details that perfectly capture the mood of the time. The author's research is impeccable, as usual.

There are more than a few throwbacks to the second Tom Wilde novel, "Nucleus", with characters and events forming the basis for what faces our hero this time around. Fans of the series will enjoy this, I think. The author also nicely inserts real-life people and locations into the story - as well as Klaus Fuchs, we visit the Harwell Campus, and there's even mention of Philby, Burgess and Maclean. Could this be a hint at the next Wilde book?

Fans of the series will love this latest Wilde adventure, as will fans of Simon Scarrow, Alex Gerlis and Charles Beaumont. Heartily recommended.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eighth in the Tom Wilde World War Two thriller series by Rory Clements, 'A Cold Wind from Moscow' takes a post-conflict step towards the Cold War. This is a tale of a top secret nuclear scientist, a South London criminal gangster and a Russian hitman.
Cambridge 1947. Life is returning to normal for Professor Tom Wilde after the war. He is teaching history again at Cambridge while his wife Lydia is a medical student in London. On a freezing cold day, he stops at the greengrocer on his way to work. In the window is displayed a rarity; a perfect fresh peach. Wilde buys it as a treat for his son, Johnny, then goes to his rooms where he is expecting a visitor from London, a man he met once before during the war. But when Wilde opens the door, Everett Glasspool is dead with an ice-axe buried in his head.
This is a transitional story set at a time of post-war stasis as global political tension pivots to the Soviet Union. Daily life in England is difficult, in some ways harsher than during the war. And the Arctic-like weather doesn't help. Wilde finds himself drawn back into security circles where there are old familiar wartime faces and fresh ones, such as his boss at MI5 Freya Bentall. Freya fears she has a traitor on her team and charges Wilde to follow three of her officers. Then a nuclear scientist, who has evidence about the leak of secrets, goes missing. The trail leads Wilde into London's criminal underworld and also to his old friend Geoff Lancing who is now working at Harwell, the atomic energy research establishment. Who is selling nuclear secrets to the Russians? Is there more than one traitor? And can Wilde find the missing scientist before the Russian hitman?
The end is intriguing, setting up what promises to be another Tom Wilde book. A really pacy read. Very enjoyable.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-revie...

[Alison · Rating 2 out of 5]

After enjoying Munich Wolf I embarked on my second Rory Clements novel.

This was my first Tom Wilde book so coming in many books late might be reason for not enjoying this one? I wrongly thought it was an action packed novel with English and Russian spies plus many in between. Consequently the book was not what I was expecting, and turned out to be another fairly tedious who dunnit!

The portrayal of winter and the landscape of England following the Second World War felt accurate. However it was totally unbelievable in many places?

What mother on hearing her young son was the victim of a hand grenade thrown in a “safe” house and him being held at gun point would say “long as he’s ok??” What happened to the occupants ears? Would the staff have so easily welcomed and not questioned the arrival of 4 people needing a safe house?

Why was a safe space house owned by an employee?

After the nanny tried to seduce Tom and subsequently him finding out she was pregnant (marriage breaker) surely he would have been angry and sacked her or discussed it with his wife who cared little other than her training at the hospital and meeting her husband for sex.

The ruthless Russian spy surprisingly left his 4 targets alive after chasing through the countryside killing innocent victims in his wake. Unlikely?

I sadly felt indifferent about Tom and cared little how he fared. Maybe his character has been developed over previous books which as a newbie I missed out on.

Interesting to read it was based on a real situation which I was keen to follow up on, so some good in the end?

[Teresa Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Cold Wind from Moscow by Rory Clements
Having read and enjoyed other books featuring Tom Wilde I was very much looking forward to reading this novel and I wasn’t disappointed. As with all of the others it is fast paced and thrilling. It is set in the freezing winter of 1947 when much of Britain has been brought to a standstill by the terrible snow.
Tom Wilde, a history professor, who helped out the secret services on many occasions during the war and briefly afterwards is settling into college life when he receives a call from Freya Bentall, a senior officer with MI5, who feels surrounded by possible double agents. She calls on Tom Wilde to help her to establish who she can trust. There is the suggestion that there is a spy at the heart of the British Atomic hub and Wilde has to seek him out.
In addition to becoming involved with dangerous spies who will stop at nothing to achieve their ends he also becomes involved with a gangland boss from the Walworth area and he seems to be linked to a murder in Tom’s college.
It is an excellent thriller gripping you from the outset and my only quibble with the book would be the small role which Lydia, Tom Wilde’s wife, has in the novel and her abandonment of her only son. It is an excellent piece of storytelling and evokes the period very well. I will be recommending it to my various book groups and look forward to Tom Wilde’s next outing.

[Rachel N · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read (and thoroughly enjoyed) Munich Wolf by Rory Clements last year but this is my first in the series about American born Tom Wilde, now returned to life as an academic at Cambridge University following the end of the Second World War. The war with Germany may be over but the Cold War with Russia is beginning in earnest and Tom is soon called upon by the secret services in the UK to help uncover a network of spies centred around the race among the major powers to develop nuclear weapons.

This was a cracking read. The action is fast paced and tense but the author also takes time to set the scene and have slower periods between the action, which makes it all the more engrossing. I’m not familiar with the character of Tom Wilde but the author obviously knows him inside out and he, and his history, were fully formed from page one. There’s a fantastic sense of time and place as well, with the terrible winter of 1947 and the hardships of post war life in Britain made very clear, and it has a lot more depth than many others in the genre.

I had no difficulty joining the series at this point since it’s a new war in effect, but I will certainly be going back to the start and reading the rest. Superb.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

[Peter Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joseph Stalin wants access to the secrets of the atom bomb, and he knows the British are vulnerable. So he sends in his best spy to retrieve them.
Meanwhile Tom Wilde is back at Cambridge University doing what he loves best, that’s teaching.
With the war well and truly over and his life starting to settle down, he can finally relax, until he finds a body at the university, and he is dragged back into the world of espionage.
Wilde is persuaded to help out MI5 by Freya Bentall, the officer in charge. She doesn’t know who to trust, and an outsider might be the answer to find out what’s going on.
Wilde could never known his task would be so perilous, from the criminal underworld to the elite of British society, all orchestrated by the best spy the Soviet Union have imbedded in MI5.
To stop a catastrophic disaster from happening Wilde has to catch a spy before secrets are revealed, stop a group of killers before they escape and keep his family safe at the same time. It’s the ultimate test of his abilities, can he succeed?
Rory Clements is as good as it gets when comes to writing spy novels.
He has a great character in Tom Wilde and he knows how to set the scene perfectly.
I’ve read every book he has ever written and I have always found them incredibly enjoyable. He truly is a fine author and his latest Tom Wilde book is very good indeed.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that Rory Clements has been turning his attention away from Professor Tom Wilde towards Detective Wolff in 1930s Germany, I was rather surprised, but delighted, to see Tom return for an eighth novel. The Second World War is over and now, the freezing cold of the winter of 1947 is matched by the political freeze of the early Cold War. Stalin has sent his killer spies to England. The world is a complicated place, with leaps forward being made by former Nazi scientists. It is Tom's job to work out who is working for whom, who is blackmailing whom, while protecting the UK's atomic secrets.

It's a really good read, as we'd expect from this series. But it's particularly dark and cruel, with London gangsters playing their part. Tom doesn't want to work with M15 again but he's given little choice and M15 is no safer than anywhere else! Tom's relationship with his family seems a little strained, and I can't say that I particularly enjoyed the scenes with the mysterious nanny. But Clements captures the cold chill of the situation and there is a genuinely menacing atmosphere. I do prefer the novels set during the war but this is a strong addition to one of my favourite series.

[Jak60 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tom Wilde is an American professor teaching history at the university of Cambridge; due to his former involvement with OSS during WWII, he's asked to help the British intelligence services. Now, I've never been a big fan of stories with amateur spies but if it is done in a credible way that can be ok - for once; twice would stretch it. But here Mr Wilde has been called out of his academic profession once, then twice, then again and again; this is instalment n.8 and it starts to be a little repetitive and not very credible.

So, the book's foundations were already not too solid; add to it a rather convoluted and hardly plausible plot that, once you thought it had reached its natural finale, keeps plodding on and on toward a worn out ending.

The last flaw is, too many killings, way too many. We know a tacit agreement between the two blocs' services during the cold war was that you would not kill the opposition's agents. This is reflected in the best novels of the genre: shootings and killings are very rare in Le Carrè's books, or Deighton's. Here not only do we have too many of them but we have a Soviet agent having people killed with an ice axe in their head.

[Zandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read a few of Rory Clements Tudor books years ago and was really pleased to be offered the chance to read A Cold Wind from Moscow. It lived up to my expectations. Tom Wilde, a Cambridge professor and ex spy, is recalled by Freya Bentall a senior MI5 officer, to help flush out a spy in the midst of the organisation. Tom agrees initially to help for one week, after finding a body, killed by an ice axe., in his rooms at Cambridge. There are three suspects and he has to get close to each of them to find out. The journey involves him in great danger with visits to the seedier places in London, If he fails, he will be putting not only his family, but also his country in great danger. The bitterly cold winter of 1947 along with rationing, power cuts and little transport, all added extra difficulties for Wilde. As the tension mounts, the book becomes a real page turner.
I have no hesitation in recommending this great book. I would like to thank NetGalley, Rory Clements and the publishers, Zaffre books of an arc of A Cold Wind from Moscow.